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Native American civilizations are difficult to arrange chronolgically. The three best known civilizations (Maya, Aztec, and Inca) are contempraneous with Medieval Europe. There were civilizations that were ancient at the time these and other civilzations florished. Teoteauacan was an ancient ruin at the time of the Aztec. While the chronology of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca are fairly well developed, the dating of the early civilizations and the early history of human settlement of the Ameriucas is a matter of some controversy. The Native Americans civilizations of the New World are unique in that they developed in isolation from the other great world civilizations. Some of the great Old World civilizations had extensuve contacts. Others had only minimal contact, but contact neverheless. The contact with the Europeans beginning in 1492 was in many ways to Native Americans like visitors from outer space would seem to our modern world. [West]
The Native American people are of Asiatic desent. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers who migrated to the American continent over a Bearing Sea land-ice bridge at the end of the last Ice Age probably about 12,000 years ago. After crossing the Bearing Sea ice bridge, the Native American people moved south and east until populating the entire Western Hemsphere as far south as Tierra de Fuego in South America. Some archeologists believe that the migrants moved south along the coast of Alaska through an ice free coastal corridor. Other archeologists challege this theory. There is no real doubt that Asiatic migrations took place. (Some suggest European or Polynesian migrations, but the archeolgical evidence is virtually nill.) While the Bearing Sea crossing is accepted by most all sereious archeologists, the precise timing and process of these migrations is a matter of considerable scientific debate. Some contend that the migrations may have begun as early as 15,000-20,000 years ago and may have involved people that moved by sea as well as by land. These mariners did not have large raft, but could have made short hops in small craft from island to island as they moved south. There is little archeologicalmevidence for this, but most of their settlements would today be underwater. [Koppel] It now appears that there were several successive waves of migrations. This has complicated Native American anthropolgical studies. We now know that migration continued well after development of indignous socities in both North and South America. This means that migrations took place well after civilizations for which we have archeolgical evidence. This had confused early anthrpologists who assumed that the migrations preceeded the early cultures which they found such as the Clovis Point people. The stone tools found at Clovis, New Mexico are believed to fate to about 9000 BC. The Clovis Point people were once thought to be the earlist American culture. Other cultures have sence been found much further south in South America. [Koppel]
Native American civilizations are difficult to arrange chronolgically. Teoteauacan was an ancient ruin at the time of the Aztec. While the chronology of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca are fairly well developed, the dating of the early civilizations and the early history of human settlement of the Americas is a matter of some controversy. Information is especially limited on the Olmec which appears to have been an early civilization of great importance.
Many Native Americans never evolved beyond the hunter-gather stage. Others civilizations developed sedentary agricultre. The first evidence of settled habitation is first noted in modern Mexico during the Archaic period 5000-1500 BC. Here we note corn cultivation, pottery and stone tools. The first sophisticated civilization in Meso-America was the rise of the Olmecs around 1500 BC - 300 AD during what is known as the Pre-Classical period. The Olmecs settled on the Gulf of Mexico Coast of central Mexico. Very little information has, however, been learned about them as is the caseof other early Meso-American civilizatons. . Many archeologists believe that it is the Olmecs that developed many of the characteristics features of Meso-American cultures, including sophisticated calendars and hieroglyphic writing. Archeologists have not definitively developed the relationship between the Olmec culture and the Maya and other Meso-American peoples. The three best known of these agricultural civilizations (Maya, Aztec, and Inca) were contemperaneous with Medieval Europe. These civilizations are well known because they are the civilizations that the Spanish encountered. The three great civilizations were brought to am abrupt end in the early 15th century by Spanish Conquistadores.
The Native American civilizations of the New World are unique in that they developed in isoltion from the other great world civilizations. Some of the great Old World civilizations had extensuve contacts. Others had only minimal contact, but contact neverheless. Some have postulated contacts with Polynesians or Africans, but these contacts have yet been proved. The contact with the Europeans beginning in 1492 was in many ways to Native Americans like visitors from outer space would seem to our modern world. [West] The Native American civilizations of the Americas lived in almost complete isolation from the rest of the world. This was true to such an extent that many Native americans thought the Spanish might even been gods. One of the many fascinating questions of history is how Cortez, Pizarro, and other Conqquistadores defeated empires with millions of inhabitants with pitifully small armies. One reason is the cultural isolation of Native Americans. One historian writes, "Isolation insulates a culture from a wider field of competition and stimulus; and in the long runthis is unlikely to be in its advantage." [Cook] Here the danger in part biological. Isolated communities do develop resistance to major disease. The Eueopean Conquistadores brought with them diseases like smallpox that proved more deadly than the European plagues of the 14th century. Another matter is technology. The technolgical progress in human civilizations do not follow a prescripted pattern. A society my be advanced in some areas and very primitive in others. The Native Americans had sohistical mathematics and calendars, but did not develop the wheel. Europe on the otherhand shared technological advances directly or indicretly with other civililizations (especially the Arabs ad China). While the contacts might be tenuous, such as over the Silk Road, might have been tenuous, but it existed. The contribution of Chinese technology to European history and civilization is astonishing. The isolation of Native Americans put them at a great disadvantage to the Spanish. As a result, the Native Americans could not match the technology of the Europeans.
A stunning chracteristic of Native Americans is their cultural differences. Perhaps this is a reflection of the relatively small numbers of Native Americans in a vast territory. There were densely settled areas that did produce high culture, but the general pattern was sparse settlements in a vast landscape. There was more cultural differences in the Americas than was the case of the New World. Language is a good relection of culture. Much of the world population speak Indo-European languafges which developed from a common source. There is no such dominant language among Native Americans, perhaps a reflection of waves of migration. Rather there are many language families in both North and South America. Ethnologusts have written at length of this cultural diversity. Some authors have found common threads among Native Americans. One, Some see a pervasive spirtuaslity among Native American peoples. Two, Some see a different attitude toward nature. Europeans wanted to harness nture. Native Americans lived in harmony with nature. Native Americans also did not have a concept of land ownership. Three, The Native Americans were decidely edthnocentric. Often their names were "The People". There was no concept of racism, but there was cultural chauvenism. Whiles and blacks could be accepted into the tribes if the new comers accepted thetribal culture.
The Native American civilizations were brought into contact with Europe beginning in the late 15th century by the European explorerors. Christopher Columbus was the first in 1492. The initial impetus was trade with the Spice Islands and China, but as ruors of a famulous cities of gold circulated in Europe, gold became an increasing allure. While there was no El Dorado, Conquistadores found civilizations with great quantities of the precuous metal.The great European voyages of discovery of the 15th and 16th centuries were fundamentally economic enterprises. They were conducted by the European countries of the Atlantic coasts to establish direct trade contacts with China and the Spice Islands (Indonesia) that was being blocked by Byzantium/Venice and the Arabs. At the time, trade in silk, porcelin, and spices from the East carried over the Silk Road had to pass through Turkish, Arab, Byzantine, and Italian middleman, making them enormously expensive. The crusaders failed to break the Islamic wall separating still primitive Europe from the riches of the East. Circumventing the land Silk Road and the sea Spice Route would have profound economic consequences for Europe and the world.
The voyages of Columbus and the other European Voyages of Discovery had profound consequences for both Europe and the world. Following on Columbus' voyages, Spain rapidly began estalishing colonies. At first Columbus and the Spanish did not realize that they had chanced upon an entirely new continent--the Americas. They thought it ws India and thus called it the Indies and the Caribbean Islands have become known to us as the West Indies. Spanish colonization was at first in the Caribbean and extrodinarily brutal. The native Americans on the islands were for the most part exterminated. Next the Spanish looked to the mainland where rumors described natin American civilizations of vast wealth. This led to Diego Cortez's Conquest of Mexico. Balboa had earlier found the Pacific across the Istmus of Panama. This led to Hernando Pizarro's Conquest of Peru. The gold and silver flowing from the Americas made Spain a European super-power and financed the Great Armada. The most significantimpact of the conquests, however, may well have been the introduction of the humble potato to Europe fom Peru.
The populsation of the Americas before the European conquest isd unknown. It is also a hotly debated suject in ethology. There are widely divergent estimates. These estimates vary from about 20 million to as much as 150-200 million people. Modern histtorians are likely to adopt the middle ground of about 80-100 million people, but there is no real definitive evidence as to the pre-conuest population of the Americas. This is interesting, because a population of that masgnitude would approximately equal that Europe at the time.
Each of the three great Native American civilizations were conquered with surprising speed by the Spanish Conquistadores. Even so, the civilizations had profound and offered ignored impact on Europe. The gold and silver which flooded into Europe in the 16th century had a major impact on the European economy. Many new agricultural products including cacao, corn, potatos, tomatos, and others were introduced to Europe. Many of these crops or products are of considerable importance. The lowly potato, however, had a huge impact on European sovciety. Farmers found that the amount of food produced per hectare with potatos was far greater than wih any other crop. This meant that European agriculture could support va much larger population and was a major factor in the growth of European populaions after the 16th century. Another major crop was corn, although the full potential of this crop only came to fruition in the 20th century.
The Spanish destroyed vast quantities of art work for relogioius reasons. This significantly limits the amount of contemprary images. There are many images from the Native American civilizations. Beautiful Maya murals have been found it tomns that the Spanish never found. There are also metal objects and pottery. We have been unable to find contemprary Native American art depicting children and their clothing. There are modern recreations, but as always there is the problem of historical accuracy.
Besides the Inca, there were many other Native American tribes in South America. Many were centered in the Andes or along the narrow coastal plain to the west of the Andes. he Inca highly civilized. The Inca conquered many of the tribes in or along the Andes from Colombia south to Chile. There were also tribes to the east of the Andes. The primitive tribes in the Amazon still exist, although there numbers are now very small. One such group is the Enawene-Nawe. One ongoing mystery is that Spanish sources report a very substantial population in the Amazon basin during the 16th century. Francisco de Orellana set out on a quest for gold and soon found himself just trying to survive. Hecwas the first European to travel the entire length of the Amazon and he reported a huge population of very profuctive farmers. Historians at first dismissed the Spanish account as fanciful. Modern anthropolgists have begun to reassess this judgement. Some believe there indeed once was a very large population in the Amazon basin practing sophisticated agriculture..
Central America in geographic terms is part of North America. Etnographic studies of North America commonly focus primarily on American and Canafian tribes and those of northern Mexico. Central America is often not considered. This is in part because American anthropolgists have focused primarily on those tribes found within the United Satates. Also the Maya dominated much of Central America. There was thus little room for other tribes in contrast to the situation in South and North America. One tribe that has survived is the Kunas in Panama. The Kuna Indians are a strongly-knit tribal society living on a chain of islands called San Blas Archipelago, on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Panama. Believed to be decendents of the Caribs, the Kuna Indians still live in much the same manner as their ancestors. The San Blas people have cleverly managed to retain their tribal identity and contentedly lead a moral balanced life, free from the complexities of modern, highly-organized societies. The Kuna have a matriachal society in which the line of inheritance passes through the women. A young man, after marriage, must live in his mother-in-law's house and work for several years under apprenticeship to his father-in-law. Divorce is uncommon, although it requires no more than the husband to gather his clothes and move out of the house. The daughters of the Kuna people are prized because they will eventually bring additional manpower into the family. Two tribes dominated the Caribbean--the Arawaks and the Caribs. They were desimated by the Spanish early in the colonial era.
The Spanish encountered the great Native American civilizations in Meso-America and the Andes. There were many other Native American cultures in North America. These tribes were mostly nomadic hunter gatheres, but some practiced agriculture to varting degrees. Native Americans, in part because of the horendous treatment by white Americans as well as the exposure to European diseases, now comprise only a small part of the Americam mosaic. It is a rich, colorful traition, no matter how small. Native American dress is showcased atvpowwows and other gatherings held annually throughout America.
The term holocaust is today most commonly used to describe the NAZI genocide of European Jews and others. There have been other terrible holocausts in history and not all of them man made. There have been terrible epidemics, the most familar to Western historians id the blubonic flu epidemics which ravged medieval Europe. Perhaps the most deadly disease epidemics in history occurred in the Americas in the wake of the European conquests. By aquirk of evoluntionary history, Native Americans had no resistance to many of the most deadly human diseases. This was because of the Great Extenction of the Pleistocene Era, the America were left without large mamals which could be domesticated. In Europe and Asia, the advent of civilization brought domestication of many large mamals (cats, dogs, cows, horses, oxen, pigs, sheep, ect). People thus lived in close promimity to these mammals. Peasant family commonly lived with livestock. Most of the most deadly desases are diseases which have mutated from animal diseases to human diseases (influenza, measels, small pox, and others). Over time Asians and Europeans developed an immunity to these diseases, but Native Americans without these large domesticated mammals did not. Thus when the iseases were introduced by the Europeans, Native American populations were ravaged. Such diseases were, for example, a principal reason in the Cortez's defeat of the Aztecs. Historians beliece that as much as 90 percent of the Native American population perished.
Koppel, Tom. Lost World: Prehistory--How New Science is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners (Atria, 2003), 288p.
West, Rebecca. Survivors in Mexico (Yale University Press, 2003), 264p.
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